Self-closing flush-valve.



E. G. HEDGES.

SELF CLOSING FLUSH VALVE.

APPLICATION FILED AUG-23 I9l3.

1 ,281,556 Patented Oct. 15, 1918..

I7 it 17 y 11;; J6, J5 l 4/ M at o'zueg ,4: Y L Y I EDWARD G. HEDGES, OFNEWARK, NEW JERSEY.

SELF-CLOSING FLUSH-VALVE.

Application filed August 23, 1913.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD G. Hnoons, a citizen of the United States,and a resident of the cit of Newark, county of Essex, and State of lowJersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inSelf-Closing Flush-Valves, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to a self closing flush valve device and moreparticularly to that type in which the valve is returned to its closingposition by liquid pressure in a compression chamber. Such devices areusually provided with a. plunger affixed to the valve, which plungerdisplaces the water from the chamber as the valve is moved to openposition. The chamber is connected with the water supply, usuallythrough a bleeding hole, to refill the same and thereby return the valveto its closing position. To control the time during which the valve isclosing, that is, to control the time during which water can pass theopen valve it has been usual to place in the bleeder hole, means forvarying the extent of the opening therethrough.

Where this bleeder hole is used to provide an escape for the waterdisplaced by the piston, any small opening at this place retards theflow from the chamber and offers a resistance to'the' unseating of thevalve.

An object of my invention is to provide in the piston a liquidpassageway to the compression chamber provided with means forcontrolling the time for closing the valve, which means willautomatically permit a quick flow of liquid from the compression chamberthereby to provide an easy opening of the valve.

Various other objects of the invention will be in part obvious and inpart more fully set forth in the following description of a deviceembodying my lnvention, which also discloses novel features ofconstruction and combination of parts hereinafter set forth and claimed.

In the drawings Figure 1 is a sectional view taken axially through apreferred embodiment of my invention;

Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional view on the line 22 of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 3 is a similar view taken on the lines 3-3 of Fig. 1.

In the diawings there is shown a tube 1 having an opening 2 in the sidethereof con- Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Qct. 15, 1918.

Serial No. 786,298.

stituting an inlet, and having an open end 3 constituting an outlet, theend opposite the outlet being closed by means of a hollow casing 4threaded into the same. Intermediate its length the bore of the tube iscontracted to form a valve seat 5 upon which normally rests a main valve6 closing C01I1 municat-ion between the inlet 2 and outlet 3. A valvestem 7 extends from the main valve 6 into the casing 4 and has apassageway 8 extending longitudinally therethrough said passagewayhaving extensions 9 placing the same in communication with the outlet 3,

ports 10 placing the same in communication with the compression chamber11 formed in the casing 4 and with ports 12 placing the same incommunication with the inlet 2.

A piston 13 carried by the stem 7 between the ports 10 and 12 slidablyfits the casing 4 and c'onstitutesthe movablehead of the compressionchamber 11. This piston may be of any suitable construction and for thispurpose the disclosure is shown to be a de-- vice of a character formingthe subject matter of my co-pending application, Ser. No. 667,701, filedDecember 26, 1911.

Communication through the extensions 9 is controlled by means of thenormally closed release valve 14. The fiow of liquid through thepassageway 8 to and from the chamber 11 is controlled by a floatingvalve 15 therein which has a valve head 16 adapted to-engage a-valveseat in the stem and to incompletely close communication through thepassageway 8. The valve head 16 may be maintained in unseated positionby means of an adjustable stop 17 threaded into the top of the stem 7.The outer end of the casing 4 preferably includes a sleeve 18 adjustablymounted therein and affording a means for limiting the extent of theunseating movement of the main valve 6. The outer end of the sleeve 18is closed by a cap 19, by the removal of which access may be obtained tothe stop 17 to vary the position of the valve head 16 relative to itsseat. An extension 20 from the release valve 14 slides through the valve6 and has a head 20 adapted to be engaged by an actuating lever 21thereby to unseat the valves 14 and 6 in succession. A. stop rod 22extends from the valve 14 through the passageway 8 to maintain the valve15 in adjustable proximity to its seat.

If desired the lower end of the casing 4 may be formed into an openframe 23 carrygral with the portion of the casing 1 forming the outlet.

In operation with the parts in the position shown in Fig. 1 the lever 21is actuated. to raise the release valve 14 and open communicationbetween the chamber 11 through the passageway 8 and extension 9 to theoutlet 3, thus releasing pressures on the upper side of the piston 13.The continued movement of the lever 21 will bodily unseat the valve 6 topermit a direct fluid passage from the inlet 2 to the outlet 3. Thedisengagement of the lever21 from the head 20 permits the liquid to actfreely on the valves. The liquid flowing through the port 12, passageway8 and port 10 into the compression chamber 11, acts on the piston 13,thereby to force the valve 6 back onto its seat and to force the releasevalve'l l into its closing position and ready to be again opened by theactuation of the lever 21,

Should it be desired to vary the time necessary for the valve to closeitself, the cap 19 is removed and the member 17 adjusted by means of asuitable tool until the valve head 16 has a position relative to itsseat to permit the desired rate of flow of the liquid to fill thecompression chamber 11.

The casing 4 together with the valve mechanism and its protecting screen24 can be unscrewed from the tube 1 as a unit there by providing a readyaccess to the parts of the valve in order to repair or clean the same orto substitute another screen in place. The casin 4 may be relativelysmall and the capacity of the compression chamber therein increased byutilizing the bore of the stop sleeve 18 as part of the chamber. Thestop sleeve 18 can be adjusted from the outside of the device and theOpening through the outlet 3 may be adjusted without interrupting thedevice in its operation.

Having thus described my invention, I claim 1. In a device of the classdescribed, having an inlet, an outlet and a valve for controlling thepassage of fluid through said inlet and outlet, of a compressionchamber, a piston working in said chamber and fixed to said valve, saidpiston having a passageway with ports leading respectively to the inlet,to the outlet and to the compression chamber, a mechanically actuatedvalve for controlling the port to the outlet, and a fluid pressureactuated valve for controlling the port to the compression chamber, saidlast named valve incompletely closing said port and free to moverelative to its seat fora short distance.

2. In a device of the class described, having an inlet and an outlet anda valve for controlling the passage of fluid through said inlet andoutlet, of a compression chamber, a piston working in said chamber andfixed to said valve, said piston having a passageway with ports leadingrespectively to the inlet, to the outlet and to the compression chamber,a mechanically actuated valve for controlling the port to the outlet, afluid pressure actuated valve for controlling the port to thecompression chamber, said last named valve incompletely closing saidport and free to move relative to its seat for a short distance, andmeans accessible from the outside of the device without demounting thevalves for maintaining said last named valve in position ofl its seat.

This specification signed and witnessed this 11th day of August, 1913.

EDWARD G. HEDGES.

Witnesses:

M. J. COOPER, D F. DAwEs.

